School gets a listening room

A DEDICATED centre where children can go and share their worries has been set up at a Clevedon school.The scheme, set up by students at Clevedon Community School has been the creation of a special Peer Listeners Room where pupils can talk about problems affecting them in and out of class life.The room, funded by a £20,000 lottery grant, will be staffed by year 12 and 13 students during their break times and after school.Each student has undergone training to deal with issues raised by fellow pupils and a computer has been set up in the room with links to help and support groups for young people.They have also spent the past weeks redecorating the room and fitting it out with furniture paid for by the grant.Sixth form student Samantha Momber is one of the group of eight peer listeners at the school.Samantha, aged 18, said: "We were asked to sign up for extra curricular activities and had an idea about getting a base within the school which could be used as a listening room where students could come in their lunchtimes and get support and advice."We have decorated it and put in chairs and tables so it is a pleasant environment for those who use it."We have all had training which has helped us develop our listening skills and teach us how to help other young people talk through their problems. "Sometimes it may be a case of someone just wants to talk, but if someone is being bullied or has too much homework we can talk to teachers or perhaps the local police community support officer and help put the situation right."I was bullied at school when I was younger and a scheme such as the peer listeners would have really helped at the time."Clevedon Police Community Support Officer Linda Richards, who has been working with the teenagers to set up the scheme, said: "This is a fantastic facility for young people as it is somewhere they can go and talk through issues with people of their own age.